And now, for something
shocking. Or something. Yep, Shock makes its
triumphant return to Standard for the first time
in about 5 years. 1 mana, 2 damage; it's not as
good as Lightning Bolt, but not much is, and
it's more consistent than a lot of the offerings
red's had for recent memory. The consistency is
what makes it more useful than, say, Fiery
Temper.
Shock isn't going to be a
star, but it's exactly right for Standard. Use
this early, and use it often, and shock the crap
out of your opposition.
Constructed: 4.25
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 2.75
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Shock
I'm surprised we only haven't seen this card in
a new set since M14 - it felt like it had been a
lot longer than that. I understand that Magic
releases new cards, and riffs on older cards,
and that power levels of sets might fluctuate,
but sometimes I do wish they would decide which
is going to be the baseline for various "tropes"
and stick with them. Shock is going to generate
a lot of controversy for that reason, because
many people have been around for long enough to
have played with Lightning Bolt and Incinerate
in Standard FNM and because others are used to
creatures like Siege Rhino and the now-banned
Smuggler's Copter. But Shock deals 2 damage to
anything with no conditions, and the cold,
hard fact is that no card that does that is
objectively bad.
